Andrea Accomazzo

The European probe Philae has made the first-ever landing on a comet, a crowning phase in a quest to explore the origins of the Solar System, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Nov. 12.

The robot lab landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko around seven hours after separating from its mother ship Rosetta more than 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth, it said.

European spacecraft Rosetta became the first ever to catch up with a comet on Aug. 6, a landmark stage in a decade-long space mission that scientists hope will help unlock some of the secrets of the solar system.